Followers

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Former MEGADETH and KING DIAMOND
guitarist Glen Drover has left the Geoff Tate-fronted version of QUEENSRŸCHE
before playing a single show with the band. He says in a statement: "I
am really sorry to say that I have decided to bow out of Geoff Tate's
QUEENSRŸCHE. I was very excited about doing this gig initially, but learned in
the
past week or so that it's in my best interest not to do this right now. I feel
really bad for those who were excited about the idea, and to Geoff himself,
who, I have to say, was very nice to me on my past trip to
Seattle. I, of course, am very disappointed for arriving at this point,
and making this decision, to say the least. I sincerely wish the Geoff and the
band all the luck on what they do in the future."

Tate, who was fired from QUEENSRŸCHE in June after fronting the group for three
decades, recently sought to
prevent his former bandmates from touring and operating under the QUEENSRŸCHE
name without him. While ruling against Tate, the presiding judge determined
that there was no legal hurdle in Tate also using the name with an all-new
lineup of musicians. "I don't see any reason that Mr. Tate can't have the
benefit, if he gets other members, of whatever name he uses of using the
brand," Superior Court Judge Carol A. Schapira said during the July 13
court hearing. "I think [doing that would be]
inherently confusing, although I'm sure the market can get these things
sorted out," she added.

On September 2, Tate announced that he was launching his own version of
QUEENSRŸCHE with RATT drummer Bobby Blotzer, former QUIET RIOT, OZZY OSBOURNE
and WHITESNAKE bassist Rudy Sarzo and Drover. Also on board in the new group
are returning QUEENSRŸCHE guitarist Kelly Gray — who played with the band from
1998 until 2001 and also produced several of their albums — and keyboardist
Randy Gane, who has toured and recorded with QUEENSRŸCHE and Geoff's solo group
in the past.

In a recent interview with Screamer Magazine, Geoff stated about how he
recruited Drover for his version of QUEENSRŸCHE: "Glen I've known for a
while and I came at him more as a fan. I love his
guitar playing. He's just a really special guitar player and a very
fluid player. And I thought that he and Kelly Gray would be a really
interesting guitar team because they're complete opposites in their style. Glen
is very fluid and Kelly, every time he picks up a guitar he picks a fight with
it — it's just
this chunky, kind of forceful style — and I thought that would be an
interesting juxtaposition of styles."

American
rock act JOLLY
suffered severely from hurricane Sandy in New York. JOLLY has been working on
recording their second studio album Audio
Guide To Happiness, Part II, but hurricane Sandy completely
destroyed the band's rehearsal room and drummer Louis Abramson's studio. All
of the band's equipment was ruined by the massive flooding of the enormous
storm.

In March 2013, JOLLY is planning to go on tour with label-mates RIVERSIDE.
They are currently asking for help from their friends and fans and have
set up a rescue fund to finance the new band equipment and the reconstruction
of the studio, so the European tour can take place next year and they can
finish the recording of their album. Depending on the donated sum, the band
is offering different thank-you gifts to the donors.

Roadrunner Records: You played what was described as your first-ever "unplugged"
show
earlier this month at Union Chapel in London, but you were playing
electric instruments, so how was it different from a regular OPETH gig?

Mikael: Well, none of the so-called "unplugged" shows are really
unplugged, because there's always microphones [laughs], even if you've got
acoustic guitars. But we just played some more
mellow stuff, I guess. We've got a bunch of those songs, so it was kind
of easy for us to do that. The problem we had was that the dB limit in
Union Chapel, where we played, was 85 dB, so we had to have the amps on
really low. That was the only problem that we noticed, really. Other
than that, it was fun. It was a bit like throwing ourselves off a cliff
in a way, because out of the 10 or 11 songs that we played, I think half of
them were songs we'd never played before. So it was interesting. But it went
really well. I was quite happy with it.

Roadrunner Records: One of the songs you played was a cover of "Var Kommer
Barnen In" by HANSSON DE WOLFE UNITED, who are pretty much unknown outside
of Sweden. Could you talk about that song a little?

Mikael: Well, they're not really all that well known in Sweden, either, because
they were active in the early '80s, and it's a bit of an odd song — I
guess a lot of people expect us to cover a KING CRIMSON song, or a VAN DER
GRAAF GENERATOR song or something like that, but I just love that song, you
know? I guess I got the idea from Jonas [Renkse], my best friend, in KATATONIA,
who played me that song. I'd heard it before, but he played it for me
and said, "I'd love to cover this song," and I was like, "Ah, I
want to
do that too," because I loved it. So I asked him, "Are you gonna do
that?" and he was like, "No, no, no, we're not gonna do it, you can
do
it," so we did it instead. They're not really well known — it's a bunch
of geeks, basically; I'm not sure what scene they were connected to in
the early '80s, but there were quite a few of those melancholic bands
singing in Swedish back in those days, and they were one of them, and
they were not really famous. I think they might have reunited to do a
tour a couple of years back, I'm not sure what they're doing. But
they're quite obscure, even in Sweden. And the reason why we did it was
not to be really difficult and obscure, it was just that I love the song and
everybody in the band thought we could do a really good version of
it. Which I think we did. So it was fun to do one of those covers from a band
that's just completely unknown, and as far as I know we've never
done anything in our native language, apart from the cover that we did a while
back for the "Watershed" record ["Den Ständiga Resan", by
MARIE FREDRIKSSON]. We'd definitely never played anything live [in Swedish]. So
that was fun.

Roadrunner Records: You're doing two more shows like this, in Germany; are you
filming or recording these shows at all?

Mikael: We bought some type of rig, so we can record every show. I'm not sure
if we're recording every show, but we did record the London show, and
we're probably gonna continue recording whenever we can. But I'm not
sure what we're doing with that stuff, to be honest. It's always good to have
material, and maybe further down the line, if we have a bunch of
shows recorded we can pick and choose the best segments of the shows and maybe
put something out, but we don't know yet.

Roadrunner Records: Your tour ends December 9; what are your plans for 2013?
Will you be returning to the U.S., or will you be writing again?

Mikael: Yeah, we're probably returning. We still have a few details to work
out, but we were supposed to be in the U.S. in the fall and we didn't do it, so
we're gonna be in the U.S. in the spring, I think. But it's not
completely settled yet, so I'm not sure — I can't say 100 percent that
we're gonna be there. But 90 percent sure, we're going on a North
American tour, which will be the last lengthy tour that we do for this
record. We're also doing a few shows down in Australia and Japan and
perhaps South America and some summer festivals as well, but generally
it's gonna wind down after May of next year.

Guitar International: What was it like to be in the RAINBOW legacy and perform
the Ronnie James Dio songs?

Joe Lynn Turner: I loved doing the Dio songs. I grew up listening to him, David
Coverdale and Ian Gillan. I performed a lot of those songs in cover bands, but
to be standing on the stage next to Ritchie Blackmore was a whole other level,
of course.

Guitar International: Your legacy in RAINBOW spawned the most video and
commercial radio hits for the band. Was that the intent?

Joe Lynn Turner: That's was the actual design of it. We were supposed to be
more commercial. When Ritchie got me in the band, he point-blank told me that
we were going after a
commercial market. Other bands on the label were going that way like DEF
LEPPARD who were getting played on the radio. Ritchie wanted to get played on
the radio too. I said then let's go after
their throats; we are going to write songs that are hook, line, and
sinker hits. That was mission and we accomplished it.

Guitar International: Do you still keep in touch with Ritchie?

Joe Lynn Turner: Not much. It's pretty difficult with the whole personality
thing. It
could be one line in an e-mail. I could send an email saying
congratulations on this or that and he would write back, "Thanks."
[laughs]

Guitar International: Do you have any insight into the DEEP PURPLE Rock And
Roll Hall Of Fame induction?

Joe Lynn Turner: I have read that he was not going to attend. He was never one
of those
guys that believe he needed an award. In a way, I respect that. There
are a lot of people that think it is a scam, money and politically
oriented. So I understand what he means.

Guitar International: I ask because you were in DEEP PURPLE and was wondering
if you were going to be included in the induction?

Joe Lynn Turner: That would be interesting. I really have no idea. I have no
idea which of the other members of DEEP PURPLE will be included. I don't know
if it's just the Mach 5 lineup. DEEP PURPLE is a band that had a lot of members
run through it. I haven't really
pursued it or tried to find out, because I'm personally half and half
about it. I have a little bit of Blackmore's attitude in the sense that DEEP
PURPLE should have been in 20 years ago. What's that all about?

With about one week left to let fans'
voices be heard for the first time on who deserves to get into the Rock And
Roll Hall Of Fame next year, RUSH has pulled in nearly a quarter of the votes
at 24.3%, followed by DEEP PURPLE at 17.1%. HEART is third with 12.4% of the
votes cast.

Although
the public vote could influence the outcome of who is inducted and who
isn't, it will most likely be used only as a tie-breaker. The top five
acts will comprise a "fan's ballot" that will count as one of the
more
than 600 ballots that determine the Class Of 2013. The results will be
announced in mid-December.

RUSH has been eligible for the honor since 1999, 25 years after the release of
the band's self-titled debut album.

"I'm really happy for the RUSH fans who feel that it is really important,
and I hope we're inducted for their sake," RUSH guitarist Alex Lifeson
told NorthJersey.com. "Personally it never really mattered to me, but at
the same time it's nice to be nominated."

According to Lifeson, the Rock Hall induction would pale in comparison to the
band's having received one of the prestigious Governor General's Performing
Arts Awards for Lifetime Artistic Achievement in March, the highest honor
bestowed on artists by the Canadian government.

"The acknowledgement we got from the Canadian government, and by extension
Canadians, is very dear to us," Lifeson said. "The Rock And Roll Hall
Of Fame is more a popularity contest."

The
April 18, 2013 event is set for Nokia Theater in Los Angeles, marking
the first time the ceremony will be held in the city since 1993. HBO will tape
the show for broadcast at a later date.